I’m not even really going to say anything else about it.  It was boring and I was bored.  I DID enjoy seeing where a lot of the ideas in the revamp of Battlestar came from but man…that did not outweigh the boredom.

This past weekend, I watched the next film on the list, Bringing Up Baby.  This movie was actually incredibly funny.  I thought Cary Grant would be the one making me laugh and at times, he did.  But he is definitely the straight man when compared to Katherine Hepburn’s very kooky Susan.  I laughed a lot during this movie and even when the plot started to drag, the action and gags were coming fast enough to keep me entertained.  I have seen a lot of old movies but somehow I have just never quite understood the allure of Katherine Hepburn.  I’m starting to really get it.  She lights up the screen.  She did subtle things when most people were still treating movies like they were a play.  I have long been a fan of Cary Grant and paired up, they really were fantastic together.  Lots of comedy talent in that duo.

Next up, Do the Right Thing (A Spike Lee joint) and The Searchers.

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First of all, I hated Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. I thought it was boring, I thought some of the acting was terrible, and I thought they forced the setup of the issue.

So, of course everyone know what this film is about but just in case, here is a brief synopsis: Joey (a girl) is going home to see her parents (awesomely played by Spencer Tracey and Katherine Hepburn) and she is bringing her African American fiance with them (Sidney Poitier). Her liberal parents are forced to face their own prejudices and overcome their reluctance to accept them if they want their daughter to be happy. Spoiler alert: They do.

The message of the movie was fine and important and still relevant today. Where the movie fell apart was that Spencer and Hepburn came off more as concerned parents who didn’t want their daughter to enter into a life that might be more difficult. They were never malicious toward the Sidney Poitier character and actually accepted him quite quickly. It was a different time and even the most liberal of people probably would have been taken aback by their only daughter bringing any man home and giving them one day to give their blessing for marriage. It just felt like a lot of their reluctance had a lot to do with that and the fact that their daughter was extremely naive.

I just thought the movie was boring and a little heavy-handed. The one totally bright spot in the film was the last ten minutes. When Spencer Tracey stood up to give his speech, I thought the movie arrived.

All that said, I thought the movie was completely well-meaning and I understand why it would have been ground-breaking in the 60′s. I just personally did not enjoy it.

The next movie I watched was Unforgiven and I had a bit of a hard time with this one as well. I am not really a western person. There are a few I enjoy but it would never be my first choice. With Unforgiven, I could see how someone who likes westerns would be crazy about this film. For me, it was just pretty good.

Clint Eastwood was fantastic as was Morgan Freeman but aside from that, it’s hard for me to even comment too much on the movie. It didn’t really hold my focus. That’s not to say that it was boring. I just wasn’t interested in the story. The big shootout in the bar was insanely cool though. Clint Eastwood man…what a badass.

All in all though…Toy Story is still my fave of the AFI movies I’ve watched.

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When I was in high school, I hit my head on the corner of my bedside table and got a cut behind my ear. As it healed, a scaly, itchy red rash formed behind it. When I went to the doctor, she said it was likely some bacteria had gotten in the cut. She gave me some topical stuff and I was on my way.

Instead of getting better, it spread over my scalp — big red patches hidden by my long hair. But they were painful and extremely itchy. I went to a dermatologist and he also gave me something topical. It spread to my back.

I went back to the dermatologist. He did a biopsy and determined I have an acute form of psoriasis. Still, he gave me some topical stuff and I was on my way. This stuff actually did work, primarily on my back. My scalp continued to be problematic because it is nearly impossible to put topical ointment on your scalp when you have long hair.

When I went to college, I got more lax about the topical treatments and even worse about seeing my dermatologist. I hated getting haircuts because it was embarrassing when the stylists would make comments (even though they were never rude or judging). Eventually, the problem spread from my shoulders to the small of my back, down my chest, my stomach, my legs, and my forehead. Most painfully, it was also in my ears. My entire quality of life was being dictated by this stupid rash.

It should be noted that I hate going to doctors so that is a large reason this went unchecked for so long. When I was making my life list, I saw it as a good way to get me in gear on this issue. So finally, this year, ten years after it all began, I decided to get this issue treated once and for all. I found a dermatologist a street away from work and set up an appointment. She took one look at my back and chest and said “Oh, this is bad.” She said topical stuff wouldn’t work on such a large area and she immediately suggested shots. I had to go for additional tests but in a couple of weeks, the office called back and said they were sending the prescription over to the pharmacy.

Giving myself a shot that first time was a trip. The hardest part is sticking yourself with the needle. You have to do it really fast so you don’t think about it too long. Also difficult was the fact tat this medicine must be kept cold which stings like crazy. All that aside, it only took about a week and a half to start seeing improvement. The redness went away and whole areas just disappeared. My back and stomach were smooth for the first time in years.

After a month, my chest and scalp started clearing up. Nothing itched and there was no more pain. I’ve been on the medicine for two months now and the insides of my ears are still affected as well as a tiny spot behind my left ear and a tiny spot on the back of my neck.

And for the first time in ten years, I went and got a haircut and didn’t even think about my skin. I shop without worrying if shirts or dresses will reveal the red patches. It is amazing how different I feel, how much better and happier. I don’t know that I was consciously aware the this issue was bringing me down so much until it was fixed.

The shots do have some negatives. Namely, they lower my immune system. She said I’ll be more likely to get the flu and even possibly lymphoma. She is going to do tests once a year and alter things accordingly. In addition, there is no cure for psoriasis. I have to keep taking these shots or something forever.

But to me, it’s totally worth it. Even if I someday get sick, at least I feel like I can live now.

Also…life list number 65? Complete!

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Make your own.

I can tell you, this particular papercraft is the hardest I’ve done. I used thick tag board and the arms don’t move completely freely. By the end of this thing, my hands were totally covered in glue. It’s a challenge.

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When I was packing for Seattle, I decided to throw number 99 and 98 in my bag because they were small paperbacks while my copy of America is the big hardback version. So I’m going to keep going with the rest of the books and just read America slowly.

That said, on the way to Seattle, I read Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman. I had seen the movie so I had an idea of the characters and story but, as is often the case, the book barely resembled the movie. I thought the book was fantastic. I had trouble putting it down. Hoffman writes with such a whimsical, matter-of-fact style that is somehow so charming. She really wrote a fairy tale for adults. It had cursing and sex and people acting like real people and magic and somehow it all worked together.

I am going to try to avoid comparisons with the movie here because I think the book stands completely on it’s own. I will say that I was totally surprised how much older the characters were for the bulk of the novel than the bulk of the film. Sally’s children were teenagers and Jillian had been screwing up her life for much longer than the Nicole Kidman character.

The thing I enjoyed most about the book was all of those whimsical little touches Hoffman threw in and how they related to Sally’s journey. She is so practical every step of the way and yet, as someone who dealt with magic and magical gardens and signs from nature, she regarded them with total nonchalance, never explaining the reason for the magic beyond how it pertained to the story at hand. The reader was immediately forced to accept that things in this world simply were and its our misfortune for not knowing about them earlier. I found the restraint refreshing. So many authors over-explain everything to death but Hoffman, like many great writers, found the story in the things she didn’t say.

It was a magical world because she said it was but there was none of that seance and spells and bringing back from the dead stuff like in the movie. At it’s core, it was a story about three generations of very flawed women and how they get by in both the real world and their own magical one.

I watched the movie again after I finished the book and although I had remembered quite liking it when I first saw it, I found it nearly unwatchable after the book. I am not one of those, “Oh, the book is ALWAYS better,” kind of people. I can readily admit that somethings work better on film, at the hands of a thoughtful director and judicious editor. However, Practical Magic was simply so far from the charming simplicity of the book. They kept the idea of sisterhood but they glammed it up and took out all the things that came through so subtly in print. Also, it was super-cheesy.

Read the book. You won’t be sorry.

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At the rate I’m going, I won’t have everything in the fridge until midnight or later but it’s worth it. I perfected my recipe for both awhile back and then got majorly burned out on pizza. So burned out that I couldn’t write about it. So burned out that I couldn’t read the item on my life list to cross it off.

Now I’m kind of ready to deal with it all again so I’ll just say…I make some pretty damn good pizza. I don’t know if it’s the best ever or whatever but it is exactly how I love pizza. Ryan said I shouldn’t share my recipe but I don’t think that’s keeping with the spirit of the life list. I will, however, still keep all my brownie recipes a secret. Those are going to make me my fortune someday.

So here we go:
—–

Sauce
1/2 carrot chopped
1/2 onion chopped
1 stalk celery chopped
about 2 Tbsp fresh parsley chopped
about 1 Tbsp fresh basil chopped
28oz can tomatoes (peeled) or roughly 2 lbs fresh (peeled and seeded)
1 tsp tomato paste
salt
pepper
1 cove garlic minced

Put the carrot, onion, celery and parsley in a covered saucepan with about 1 to 2 Tbsp of olive oil on medium-low for about 15 minutes. Uncover, increase heat to medium-high and add the garlic and tomatoes (including the juice). Add the basil, tomato paste, salt, and pepper (and extra garlic or other seasonings if you are so inclined — sometimes I add a little extra minced onion or whatever other fresh herbs I have on hand). Reduce the heat to low and cook for about 15 more minutes.

After I let it cool, I always pop it in the blender or food processor to really get a nice smooth texture. I personally don’t like chunks in my sauce but this step is optional.

—–

Dough
1 packet yeast (I use RapidRise but ActiveDry works as well)
1 1/2 cup warm beer
3 1/2 cup bread flour
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar (can also use honey or agave)
couple of dashes of garlic powder
dash of cornmeal

Sprinkle the yeast in the beer and let it dissolve for five minutes. Mix it with a fork to be sure it’s all dissolved and then add the olive oil, salt, sugar, garlic powder, and cornmeal. Add the bread flour one half cup at a time until the flour is thoroughly mixed into the dough. Knead the dough and form it into a ball. Place the ball in a bowl coated with olive oil. Turn the ball to make sure it is coated as well. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set it aside to rise in a warm place. Let is rise for a couple of hours or until the dough doubles in size.

At this point, you can either refrigerate the dough for a couple of days, freeze it for a couple of weeks, or use it immediately.

To use it immediately, separate it into two balls. If you have a pizza peel, spread cornmeal on the peel and shape your dough into a pizza shape on the peel. Add the sauce, cheese, and toppings and slide it on to your preheated stone (450 degrees) and bake 10-15 minutes.

If you are like most people, you have no baking stone or pizza peel and instead have a couple of baking sheets or pizza pans. I have you covered. Lightly spray cooking spray on the pan and sprinkle on cornmeal. Shape your dough on the pan and lightly coat the dough with olive oil. Put the pan in the oven and cook for 5 minutes at 450 degrees. Take the pan out and add sauce, cheese, and toppings. Put the pan back in the oven and cook for 10-15 minutes at 450 degrees.

I also like to add extra cheese before it’s done baking.

—–

So that’s it. Those are my pizza baking secrets. The sauce is pretty basic. I’m not wild about red sauce so I didn’t get that creative with it. I just try to use fresh ingredients and I find that it always tastes great. The dough is where I did the most work. Using beer was a revelation. Seriously.

Oh and real mozzarella makes all the difference.

Another life list item…crossed off!

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How did I become settled at 26? I mean…I’m not, I know I’m not. I’m not married, I have no kids. I could pick up and move on and run and make mistakes and be stupid and no one would suffer the consequences. I don’t even have a pet. My plants are easy and portable and ready to live wherever I do.

Sometimes I think I could do it. I could ditch all of this and go live in the Irish countryside or Nova Scotia or Australia. Just for awhile. Just until I shake off this dust and remember what it is to be off-balance. I am practical and responsible and dependable. But more than anything, I just want to go off and live. I want to be creative and to not give a damn about the minutiae of corporate life. I want to drink good tea and write with a ballpoint pen and draw imperfect masterpieces. I want to figure out how to do all the things I want to do. I want to not worry so much about saving and planning for a future that will never be certain.

We spend so much of our lives in an office with people we barely like and we spend so little with ourselves. I have never had time off, not a long stretch anyway. I have never missed a bill or a deadline. I’ve never wondered where my next paycheck will come from or where I’d be in a month. But right now, at twenty six, does anything sound more perfect than being a bit careless?

I see myself in a cabin. Some place blustery and a little bit drafty. Some place with a garden I won’t tend and a nightly rain shower I won’t avoid. Sketch books and note books and a laptop are housed inside. Tea is always on and always hot. And for a month or a year or a week, it is my sanctuary. And on the other side of a month or a year or a week, I’ll have spent no time with people I barely like and every second with me and my own creativity and no deadlines and no one to judge my successes or failures. And I’ll emerge every bit as unbalanced as I am settled right now.

Sometimes I think I could do it. But tomorrow, I’ll go into that office I barely like anymore and I’ll waste my creativity on a company that doesn’t appreciate it and I’ll lose myself by inches.

But tomorrow, I’ll still think I could do it. And the tomorrow after that and the one after that until the day comes when I do it. Someday.

Sometimes, there is something to be said for the promise of someday.

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Josh looked like he wasn’t feeling great but we went back to the chocolate shop so I could get a couple more things. I had checked online to research some of their other candies and there were a few I wanted to try. I would have just had them shipped to Texas, but I wasn’t sure if they would ship there in the summer (I asked and they will for an extra fee). I bought a few things including a gift for my mom and dad.

After that, we went to get some fish and chips at a little restaurant. The fish was very good. Then we went back to the house for about an hour and then it was airport time. Josh kept making fun of me about checking in early online and wanting to be at the airport early and stuff but…thank God we did.

The line at US Airways was considerably shorter than it was at IAH but the security line was monstrous. I hopped into the expert traveler line and hugged Aimee and Josh goodbye. Then I waited. And waited. And watched as they started shutting down lines. And I waited some more. I eventually got my boarding pass stamped and then I waited some more.

It seems as if, in addition to the seemingly inept people they had working the security line, many of the people in the expert traveler line were anything but. They kept having to recheck bags. I always travel with one backpack as my carry-on and I never have any liquids. All I have to do is put my laptop, iPhone, and shoes in one tray and my backpack in another. Simple.

By the time I made it through security and took a detour to the bathroom, my plane was already boarding. They called my seating zone as soon as I made it to my gate and I walked directly into line.

Of course, just of course, the hugest guy ever was sitting next to me. I sat by the window and finished my novel (Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman) while he played some Square Enix game on the DS. I wanted to ask him what he was playing but…my book was really good and the flight was too long to set a precedence for small talk.

When we landed I had about thirty minutes until my next flight would board. I headed off to grab a bite and then went to my gate. I thought maybe this flight would be less full but…no such luck…completely booked. Luckily though, I wasn’t sitting next to a big fat guy on that flight. Instead, I was sitting next to two slim ladies. In those horrible minutes before I was allowed to turn on my iPod, I had to listen to their conversation. The lady on the aisle had never flown before and the lady in the middle was pretending she knew everything about flying. She kept telling aisle lady that we were an hour and twenty minutes late. Then she jumped into this long tale about how the pilot would decide how fast to fly based on how much it would cost if everyone missed their connecting flights.

Besides that being the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard, we weren’t an hour and twenty minutes late…her watch was just an hour off. Instead of correcting her, I waited until I could turn on my iPod and I flipped over to the world clock where Phoenix time was stacked above Houston time and I laid it on the tray table for her to see. As I stuck my earbuds in my ears, I noticed her glance at my tray table and then she discreetly wound her watch and said “Oh, I think they’ll make up the time.”

I started the book Predator’s Ball by Connie Bruck but its about the rise of junk bonds and corporate raiders in the late 80s which I know nothing about. I had to reread several passages more than once to understand them and the first thing I did when I got back to the internet was go to Wikipedia and try to figure out what I was reading about. It is an interesting book, I just don’t know much about trading and finance.

I started dozing off and had no idea we were landing. I jolted awake, thinking we had hit a patch of turbulence and was surprised to see the plane on the ground. I stuffed my book in my bag and listened as the middle seat told aisle seat, “Some pilots are much more gentle with the breaks.” It wasn’t true of course. The landing was the smoothest I’ve had in the last dozen or so flights but whatever. She clearly liked pretending that she knew everything and aisle seat was eating it up so…great.

I trucked it over to baggage claim and called my dad who was waiting at the cell phone lot to take me home. The conveyor started quickly but only about 30 bags came out. We waited and waited. For thirty minutes we watched three unclaimed bags circle the carousel while nothing slid down the conveyor. I heard the buzzing that indicates bags would be dropping behind me and I turned to look at the United carousel where the light was blinking but no one was standing. I watched as bags started to come down and I walked over to see where they were from. Yeah…our flight.

Some genius just switched carousels in the middle of everything. After about 15 more minutes, I grabbed my bag and headed out to the pick-up zone. We went home and I crashed very very hard.

I want to thank Aimee and Josh for being amazing hosts and for being so gracious with their time. I truly had a blast. Thanks also to my dad for coming to get me.

Today, I am off of work and I am going to go hit up Ikea, Hobby Lobby, and maybe a crazy bookstore out on Westheimer. Then it’s laundry, unpacking, and Hell’s Kitchen for me.

Vacation day 5 = long

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We headed out anyway and boy am I glad we did. The park for kite flying is this big hill with gorgeous views. The wind really whips on that hill and the second Josh pulled the kite out, it started dancing. I watched him mess with the kite for awhile while Aimee played with her new (old) camera.

Then Josh handed me the string and spent the next half hour running after the kite as I bombed it into the ground. It was a blast though. I had never flown a kite in my entire life and somehow I expected getting it off the ground would be the hard part. Instead, the hard part was controlling it. Just when I’d get in a rhythm, the wind would change and toss the kite in a different direction or the kite would venture into a windless pocket and plummet to the ground. We nearly hit people and as Aimee stared into her camera, she nearly got beaned in the head about a dozen times.

But it was fun! I never knew kite flying would be fun. The really neat thing is I never would have done it had it not been on my life list. I often hold myself back, avoiding new things because I think I’ll fail or be bad at it. I always assumed that, even something as mundane as kite flying, would be challenging and that my potential for failure at it or for looking stupid was great. So I never tried. Now I know I have been missing out. Windy days were meant for sitting on a hill and seeing how high the kite can go. Kites collided and people were nearly hit and the kite spent more time on the ground than in the air but it no one ever got mad or judged my kite flying skills. Who could ever have negative feelings on a tall hill with a sky filled with dancing kites.

Not for the first time, I am so happy I made my list. It prompts me into gear and gives me the push to do things I’d never try on my own. While the experiences are fun and memorable, just realizing that I can’t possibly succeed if I only expect failure has maybe been the best part so far.

And for however long that string was in my hand and that kite was in the air, I wasn’t thinking about work or finances or fatigue. I wasn’t thinking about airplanes or obligations or my messy apartment. I was just thinking about having fun and keeping the kite in the air.

And it was pretty glorious.

All photos taken by Aimee with my little Canon PowerShot.

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